title: Using SBAR communications in efforts to prevent patient rehospitalizations.
abstract: Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation (SBAR) communication has become the standard for communicating across disciplines. It has demonstrated its effectiveness at improving patient outcomes, enhancing patient and clinician satisfaction, and helping to control healthcare costs. It can help home healthcare clinicians with efforts to prevent avoidable hospitalizations. But how often and how well do home health clinicians use this method of shared communications with physicians? This article explores why communication between physicians and home health clinicians can be so problematic. It introduces the SBAR communication method, its origins, its features, and some of the published evidence that it provides effective and efficient communication, thereby promoting better patient outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Mary Curry Narayan, MSN, RN, HHCNS-BC, COS-C, is a Home Health Clinical Nurse Specialist and leads Narayan Associates, Vienna, Virginia. Narayan Associates provides quality, education, and consulting services and patient/clinician resources and tools to home healthcare agencies.
authors.forename: Mary Curry
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Narayan
mesh_terms: D003152:Community Health Nursing; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000592:standards; D010359:Patient Readmission; D010820:Physicians; D017749:Total Quality Management